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Video goes inside a Chinese bitcoin mine

As of October when the cameras were allowed into the operation, the mine was generating more than 4,000 bitcoins per month for its owners and investors.

February 6, 2015

The gonzo news outlet Vice recently was given access to a massive bitcoin mining operation in rural northeast China. It's one of six owned by a group of four partners.

As of October when the cameras were allowed into the operation, the 3,000-odd ASIC miners — highly specialized computers that mine for coins and do nothing else — were generating more than 4,000 bitcoins per month for its owners and investors. Employees live on site, where they play video games and smoke cigarettes while making sure none of the machines go down.

That constant humming sound you'll hear in the video? It's the strain of the countless fans required to keep the computers from overheating. Vice said the temperature inside the building can go above 100 degrees in summer months.